


A (Kind of) Fresh Start

by GetYourCapeOn



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, canon (mostly) compliant, ft a cactus cause everyone should have a succulent to keep them company, mentions of lex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26647948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GetYourCapeOn/pseuds/GetYourCapeOn
Summary: After Lena's stunt helping Supergirl, Lex does everything he can to make her life miserable. He takes her job, her money, her apartment, her furniture, and does his best to isolate her so she'll have to come crawling back to him. What he doesn't expect is that she goes to Kara instead.Takes place right after the season finale.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 20
Kudos: 343
Collections: Supercorp Big Bang 2020





	A (Kind of) Fresh Start

**Author's Note:**

> Art by https://i-okamie.tumblr.com/ and another art by _____
> 
> This is a part of the Supercorp Big Bang which was a really cool way to get a ton of content out!

Lena honestly doesn’t know why she had thought things would be fine. She doesn’t know why she expected to just… continue on with her life because she’s standing in the entrance of her apartment and there’s _nothing_ there. All of it is gone. No couches, no tables, nothing in the kitchen. Just… empty. 

Except for a note sitting conspicuously on the kitchen counter. 

Fuck. _Fuck_ . How could she have forgotten that Lex has _everything_ in this world? And that everything meant that this is technically _his_ apartment and all the furniture is technically his as well. She ignores the note for the time being and rushes to her bedroom, hoping that he’s left _something_ behind for her. 

Her bed is gone. Her desk is gone. There’s just--nothing. 

Her heart clenches in her chest because, after all this time, he _still_ controls her. He’s still able to control her like a petulant child and it makes her so _angry_. She wants to scream, she wants to lash out, but she knows it’s what he wants. He wants her to be angry because that means he’s won because it would be proof that she’s just like him. So she takes a deep breath and walks to her closet, hoping that he’s at least left her a decent pair of shoes. 

Nothing. He’s left her absolutely nothing. 

She stares blankly at her empty closet for a long time before slowly exploring the rest of the apartment. There are a few loose spoons in the cutlery drawer, half a bottle of white wine in her fridge, and a single frying pan. There are two broken bowls on the floor and Lena wonders how quickly they went through her place. Had Lex taken it somewhere or did he trash everything so she could never have it again? 

Lena resigns herself to reading the note before a hint of green catches her eye. She steps over the broken bowls and, in the corner between the fridge and the wall, she spots it. She has to crouch down and reach and she stabs her fingers a few times on its spines but she manages to carefully work it free. The little cactus is, miraculously, alive. A little squished, yes, but otherwise unharmed. Most of the soil is still in the tiny red pot and she’s honestly shocked that it’s still alive. After two years of neglect and inconsistent watering and then a ransacked apartment, the cactus Kara had bought her on a whim one day is still here. 

It’s--sad. Sad that the most important thing in her apartment is this dumb cactus that _used_ to have a little flower on top that Kara had loved and had yet to have another one bloom since then. But Lena cradles it to her chest as she steps across the broken bowls again and sets it on the counter. She carefully presses the dirt more firmly into the plastic pot and stares at it for far too long. She finally looks away, focusing on the letter seated conspicuously in the middle of the otherwise empty counter. She inhales deeply before picking it up. 

_My dearest Lena,_

_Your frustration from our earlier conversation is understandable. However, you seem to underestimate just how much I’ve done for you. So, until you’re ready to return to LexCorp and work under me, I have everything that you once thought was yours. I’ve had to simply disconnect your phone instead of taking it since you have it on your person so consider that a gift. I’ll leave it unlocked for you so you’ll have the means of contacting me later._

_Everything from your apartment is in storage and I’ll be happy to return it once you’re ready. I’m sure you’ll come to your senses soon._

_-L_

She reads the letter twice before tossing it on the floor. She takes several deep breaths before going back to the bedroom and heading into the bathroom. There’s a small pack of contacts at the back of the drawer in her vanity and Lena finds herself immensely grateful that she keeps her glasses in her purse for backup. She finds a tube of lipstick next to the contacts and picks it up, checking the pigment. Black. Probably from Lena’s brief goth-phase as a teenager. She pockets it anyways because it’s _hers_ , damnit, and she’s not going to leave it behind. She checks every inch of the bathroom before looking out onto the balcony. There’s no furniture out there anymore. No table and the firepit that Lena had gotten so that Kara could roast marshmallows is also gone. But--a hint of white catches her eye and she suddenly remembers that she had worn her running shoes that she keeps in her office at work on the way home because it was pouring earlier in the week. They had gotten soaked through and she had put them on the balcony to dry. 

She opens the door and, fortunately, both shoes are tucked safely in the corner. They must not have noticed them when taking everything. She grabs them both and returns to her kitchen with the spoils: one cactus in need of repotting, one box of contacts, one tube of lipstick, and one pair of slightly damp shoes. It’s not much but it’s better than nothing. So Lena takes one last look at the empty, depressing apartment and leaves. 

She’s all the way in the lobby when she realizes she doesn’t know _where_ to go. Going to Kara’s apartment seems… excessive. And LexCorp is out of the question. Honestly, Lena has no idea if any of her cards are going to work. She has her phone and an ipad and her wallet in her bag and she has no idea how much cash she has on her. She checks before she leaves the building and, as she suspects, she has two one-dollar bills that Kara had given her at one point for coffee and a handful of assorted change. Thankfully, she _does_ have a metro card and she’s pretty sure that she has at least a dozen fares on it. Surely Lex hasn’t hacked _that_ , right? 

Although, at this point, she wouldn’t be too surprised if he had. 

She takes out her phone and, as promised, there is no phone signal. It works but no data and no cell. She stares at the screen for a moment before heading towards the nearest coffee shop to get on their wifi to check all of her accounts. Maybe she has some sort of gift card online somewhere she could use. Or she could just hop on the wifi and call someone. 

Her first instinct is Sam but--

Sam has Ruby. And Sam is still employed by LexCorp. If Lena reaches out and Lex finds out... No, it isn’t worth it. 

Andrea, then? In this timeline, Lena hadn’t betrayed her trust. So maybe she is worthwhile. _Except_. Lex has his claws in her already. And who’s to say that Andrea will believe her over Lex? Lena knows, first hand, just how convincing her brother can be. 

Which leaves--the Superfriends. 

As much as she’s loath to admit it, they’re the only ones she has right now. And they’re also the only ones who already face Lex’s ire so she won’t be dragging anyone innocent into the line of fire. So it’s fine. It’ll be fine. She and Kara have come to an understanding and it’s fine. Really. 

Except. 

It isn’t fine because she leans on the wall outside the Starbucks on their wifi, chewing on her thumbnail as she tries to think of what to _say_ . And it’s in an email because she has no phone service and it’s probably monitored by _Lex_ right now anyways so he’ll read it and she can’t explain anything and what if Kara doesn’t check her notifications? What if Kara doesn’t see her email until tomorrow morning when she boots up her laptop? 

_Ugh._

She hits send and asks her if she can come over because she just _should_ . Everything they have right now is fragile and delicate and she won’t do anything to jeopardize that. She refreshes her inbox as she waits before reluctantly flipping over to her banking app. She knows it’s dumb to check it on public wifi but _whatever_. It’s not like she can’t pay someone to fix the problem later. Or--Lex can, she supposes. If all her money disappears, he’ll happily take it all back out of spite. 

Her account password has been changed. She walks through the “forgot password” steps and then it locks her out and tells her her account has been suspended. Fan-fucking-tastic. She flips back over to her email and sags in relief when she finds a short, simple message: _Of course you can come over._

…

Swallowing her pride is difficult to say the least. She has to circle Kara’s block twice before she finds herself standing in front of her door, wearing her running shoes (and incredibly grateful that she had been wearing boots earlier which means she has socks instead of just tights), cactus held in one hand, boots and bag tucked under the other. She knows she must look ridiculous but… she’s here. And she has nowhere else to go. 

It’s late at this point--past ten and Kara looks tired despite the fact that Kara probably doesn’t _get_ tired very often. She’s in her pj’s and there are little cartoon puppies on her shorts and she looks rumpled and just--

She just looks exactly like Lena’s best friend who she loves more than anything else in the world and it takes every ounce of strength for Lena to just breathe and not fall apart because Kara’s looking at her as though she’s just nodded off on the couch and had to get up to answer the door and Lena feels stupid for showing up here. 

“Lex took all of my stuff,” Lena blurts because there’s no beating around the bush. “He locked all my bank accounts, disconnected my phone, and took everything out of my apartment.” 

Kara looks at her blankly for a moment before looking down at the cactus that Lena is holding. “You kept Oswald!” she says, suddenly looking wide awake. “I thought you would have thrown him away.” 

Lena looks down, a little baffled that Kara named a _cactus_ . Especially _her_ cactus. “Well, um,” she replied, not entirely sure what to say to that. “It was always nice to come home to something alive. I was glad that he was in this timeline or universe or--whatever this is.” 

Kara steps back and ushers Lena inside. “You can borrow some pjs,” she offers as she shuts the door after Lena steps in. “And, um, I’m sorry about Lex.” 

“It’s not your fault. Lex is…” 

“A jerk?” 

That startles a laugh out of Lena; _jerk_ is possibly the nicest adjective she’d use to describe him. She had something a lot more scathing in mind. But it’s so brilliantly, beautifully Kara that she finds herself dangerously close to tears. And Kara must see because she’s _hugging_ Lena and apologizing to her and--yeah, that’s all it takes. 

She’s exhausted after all of this. Working with Lex, throwing herself into Non Nocere, trying and failing to help people, Lex losing it and _screaming_ at her--she finally cries. Kara’s hugs were once so familiar but now it feels bittersweet, like this might be the last one. Or the first of many. And _this_ \--this is what Lex had taken from her. This comfort, this friendship, and she _knows_ that part of it is on Kara, that Kara is the one who lied but it’s _Lex_ who ruined it before Kara could tell her, Lex who used this like a weapon, whose intent was cruel and meant to just _hurt_ her. 

She muffles it the best she can in Kara’s shoulder but she’s sure that Kara hears her anyways because she’s shushing her and gently plucking the cactus-- _Oswald_ \--from her hand before she can drop it and somehow they’re on the couch now and Lena’s just so, so tired and she doesn’t care that she’s still fully dressed or that she’s wearing jeans or that her life feels like it’s over because she has Kara again and her heart hurts and she has absolutely nothing now. 

But she has Kara again and Lex will never, _ever_ take her from her again. 

She doesn’t know how long she cries but it feels like forever. By the time she gets herself under control, she’s suddenly aware that Kara is breathing deep and slow. She’s asleep, Lena realizes, probably exhausted from Kryptonite exposure and just--everything. And it’s kind of tempting to just… stay here. To let Kara sleep while she holds her and, on a normal day (and by normal, she means _before_ all of this, back when the world felt right and good and there was _hope_ ), she would’ve. But they’re not close like that, not anymore, and letting Kara sleep on a couch after the day she’s had seems cruel. Unjust. And Lena’s the one who owes Kara everything. 

“Kara,” she says, doing her absolute best not to sniffle because she’s not _crying_ but her nose is kind of still disgustingly drippy and Kara’s shoulder is wet with what she _hopes_ is just tears but, ugh, she didn’t mean to be gross all over her. “Come on, you should sleep in a real bed.” 

Kara snuffles and yawns. Her eyes open just a fraction but it seems like the single lamp on near the door is too much and she shuts them again. “Mmmhm,” she hums and Lena sighs. She stands up and tugs on Kara’s hand, wondering how the hell she’s going to move a Kryptonian. From her research, she _knows_ that Kara must weigh far more than one would expect so she pulls hard and is genuinely surprised when Kara actually _moves_. 

She’s floating, Lena realizes with something close to amusement. It’s--cute. So Lena tugs on her, dragging her along after her to the bedroom and then onto the bed. “Lena?” Kara mumbles as Lena pulls the covers up over her. “Y’could stay here.” 

Before all of this, Lena would’ve said yes. She would’ve laughed and gone to sleep and it would’ve been _fine_ . But not now. Now they’re… _this_ . She had once believed that they would be so much more than friends but she knows better now. And any sort of weird emotional _thing_ that they had is dead and gone and Lena tells herself that she’s over it, that she doesn’t need Kara, but, here she is, standing in Kara’s apartment in the middle of the night, needing her. 

“Go to sleep, Kara. We can talk in the morning,” Lena says even though she knows Kara is already asleep. She stands there a little bit too long before going back to the couch. She takes off her shoes and socks and pulls the blanket Kara keeps there over herself. She probably won’t sleep well--if at all--but it’s fine. Any time horizontal is better than none at all. And in the morning… she’ll figure this out. She has to get up again to turn off the light but she’s been here enough times that she can find her way back even in the dim ambient light of the city. She settles on the couch and stares at the ceiling, hoping that she’ll fall asleep before she can concoct terrible what-if scenarios in her head. She closes her eyes and tries to think of mundane things like new passwords for everything so that Lex can’t figure them out, things complex enough for it to be difficult to crack but still easy enough for her to remember. 

She finally settles on something when she hears someone moving around. 

Lena bolts upright, disoriented and tired, and realizes that it’s suddenly the morning. Kara’s in the doorway looking tired. No--not tired. Sad. Guilty? Lena honestly can’t tell. 

“I’m sorry,” Kara says and, yes, that’s guilt. “I’m sorry that I lied to you. I’m sorry that you had to kill your brother for me. And I’m sorry that I didn’t fight for you. I know what Lex did to you. I read those journals, Lena, and--you were left _alone_ with him. And I never checked in. I never went to you. All I saw was someone who was doing something I thought was wrong and--and even though what you did was wrong, you didn’t deserve to go back to him.” 

“Kara…” Lena begins, feeling somehow chastised yet indignant because she was an _adult_ with her own agency and it had technically been her own choice but she is also painfully aware of the fact that Lex has _always_ manipulated her and she _knows better_. 

“I should’ve checked on you. I should have just--sucked it up and made sure you were okay because he’s _horrible_ and you were living in a world where you had _no one_ else to fight for you and I let you down and I’m so sorry, Lena. You’re my best friend and I _love_ you and I just assumed--” Kara has to stop to swipe away her tears. “What I did was petty and awful and I _know_ you’re not a bad person, no matter how differently we see things, you are _good_ and I let you down. I know nothing is going to fix it but--I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to see you get hurt.” 

Silence rings between them as Lena tries to process the apology. It’s… not a very good one, if Lena’s being honest. But it’s sincere and Kara admits that some of this is her fault and--things aren’t perfect but they’re better and isn’t that all Lena can ask for? 

“And you can stay here as long as you need,” Kara says. 

“No,” Lena says firmly. “I am not going to take advantage of you like that. I’ll figure something out. I can freelance or--maybe I can go stay with Sam.” The look Kara gives her makes Lena sigh because they _both_ know it’s a bad idea. “I know. But I can’t go from your number one enemy to crashing at your place, Kara.” 

“Okay first of all,” Kara says and she suddenly doesn’t look quite as heartbroken as Lena has seen her in awhile, “you have _never_ been my number one enemy. _Second_ of all, there is absolutely no way I am letting Lex get _near_ you ever again so you’d be safest here. Third of all, well, I’ve missed you. A lot more than I care to admit, really, so you should just stay.” 

“ _Temporarily_ ,” Lena agrees. “Until I figure something out. And please don’t let Alex kill me in my sleep.” 

“Okay. Well, I’m starving so I’m going to make pancakes and you can start on eggs,” Kara declares. And suddenly it’s normal--painfully, beautifully normal--and Lena almost lets herself believe that this is a year ago and making breakfast together is a regular activity. “Before you look for it, there are _no_ green vegetables in my fridge.” 

“Do they remind you too much of Kryptonite?” Lena asks as she swings her legs off of the couch to stand up. Kara is looking at her with wide-eyed bafflement and Lena hastily backtracks. “Sorry--that was a joke. I know that’s not why you don’t like them.” But Kara is _laughing_ and smiling and Lena’s heart does a weird little flip in her chest because she _missed her so much_. 

…

“So he took _everything?_ ” Kara asks for the millionth time as Lena steps out of Kara’s bathroom, dressed in her jeans and a t-shirt Kara let her borrow. 

“Except a single pair of running shoes, a tube of lipstick, and Oswald. And a box of contacts that won’t get me too far.” 

“That’s _awful_.” Kara is on what is probably her fourth plate of pancakes. Seeing the sheer volume of food Kara has to eat now that her secret isn’t a secret makes Lena feel guilty for all those times that Kara had to have been holding back during meals. Superheroing takes a lot of energy and, as far as Lena’s research has been able to deduce, Kara isn’t able to photosynthesize despite how the yellow sun gives her powers. 

“It’s not that bad,” Lena protests. 

“He took _everything_! Lena, that is so far from okay that it’s like in another galaxy! Rao, I’m so sorry that I left you there with him. I should have done something about it. I should’ve--” 

“It’s okay. You don’t have to keep apologizing for it. As much as I’d like to think that we could go back and change it, we both know that doing so would be incredibly foolish and would result in unknown consequences far worse than this because messing with time has severe repercussions. So… it’s fine. You’ve apologized and he’s out of my life now and it’s fine.” 

Kara huffs and mumbles something like _yeah, but we could still try_ and shoves an enormous bite of pancake in her mouth. Lena has been done with breakfast for quite some time so she simply nurses her coffee while Kara processes everything. “I have an old laptop you can use,” Kara offers when she eventually stops chewing. “It’s not in the greatest shape but I’m sure you can do something with it.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Of course! You’re my best friend, Lena.” There’s that smile again, brilliant and contagious and just--perfect. So perfect that it’s almost overwhelming and Lena has to genuinely fight the urge to cry again. How has she gone so long without having Kara in her life? “And, anyways, it’s not like I was using it. So it’s all yours.” 

The laptop, it turns out, is _definitely_ not in great shape. After Kara is gone and after she’s logged into the computer for Lena and turned off the password protection and given her permission to delete everything since everything is already backed up, Lena stares at the computer. There’s a dent in the casing (“Okay that was _one time_ I dropped it and caught it a little too hard!” Kara explained as she handed it off) and half the keys have had their letters worn off (“I type fast!”) and Lena is incredibly grateful that she knows how to type without looking at the keyboard because all of the vowels are wiped off. 

Lena deletes everything she can and charges her (mostly useless) phone with a spare charger Kara has and stares at the apps promising to hire people. She has absolutely no idea what ones to use since she has never been in charge of hiring people before so she decides to go to her emails instead. She’s horrified to see that there are well over a thousand when, as of yesterday, there had been no unread ones. Several of them are media alerts that she had set up to keep track of what was being said about here and others were from various people in the news trying to set up interviews. 

She marks everything as read just to get rid of it before clicking on the CatCo article someone had written at 3am about her. Lena hopes that Andrea would make sure that her writers were fair or, at the very least, factual before allowing them to publish anything. Still, she braces herself as she clicks on the article. 

_Lex Luthor’s Sister Leaves Company Suddenly!_

_Sources have reported that Lena Luthor, adopted daughter of Lionel and Lillian Luthor and well-known advocate for humanitarian efforts, has stepped down from her position. We at CatCo have reached out to Mr. Luthor, Ms. Luthor, and LexCorp but as of this time there have been no comments._

_One source close to the Luthors suspects that the root cause is the circumstances of Ms. Luthor’s birth. As our long-time readers know, photos surfaced last year of Ms. Luthor’s birth mother with the late Lionel Luthor, leading to speculation that Lena Luthor is indeed his biological child but last year the Luthors refused to comment._

_Another source, who wishes to remain anonymous, states that Ms. Luthor feels as though her talents are being underutilized. “Lena [Luthor] is the best scientist I’ve ever worked with,” they said during a phone interview. “The fact that she hasn’t been put in charge of LexCorp’s science division is practically criminal. Lex Luthor is a genius but he has to split his interest with the politics of running a company. Lena is always swooping in with incredible ideas whenever a project is stuck and she spends most of her time in the labs. She will be sorely missed.”_

_Ms. Luthor’s accomplishments have been listed in a_ _previous article by CatCo_ _published on her birthday last year. With Lena Luthor as one of the leading ladies of the scientific community, we can only hope that we will see her swift return._

Lena stares at the article for a long moment before going into her email and changing her password, resisting the urge to use something like fuCKul3x! and, instead, picking something a lot more complex. She reluctantly opens her banking app to confirm that Lex has, indeed, withdrawn almost everything when she unlocks it with her fingerprint. Somehow, there’s just enough money left in her checking account that she can buy her usual Starbucks order and she throws the phone across the couch in frustration because he’s just being _petty_. 

_Well fuck him,_ Lena thinks as she goes back to the computer to see how much is left of the updates. She’ll just… get a new bank. Maybe some tiny credit union that doesn’t even have an app. She stares at the loading screen as she tries to think of a good way to make money so she doesn’t have to leech off of Kara. Freelance work is pretty straightforward, right? Unless, of course, Lex has some clause in her contract or something that makes it so that she can’t do consulting work with various “competitors.” She’ll have to see her own contract--maybe she can contact HR before he can get to them. _Ugh_. 

Maybe… maybe Lena can get a different job. Maybe she can dye her hair and wear black lipstick and just look absolutely nothing like Lena Luthor. Can she use her birth name? _Technically_ it’s the name on her birth certificate-- _and_ on her first passport. 

Lena sets the laptop on the table and grabs her bag, pulling out the LexCorp iPad she has tucked in there. She pauses for a moment as she flips open the case before heading into the kitchen and the stack of sticky notes Kara keeps in one of the drawers. She peels one off to stick over the camera lens on the back before placing a second one over the front-facing camera. She doesn’t quite trust Lex to not spy on her and it’s better safe than sorry. She unlocks it but hesitates before opening the WiFi settings. This is a company iPad and, unlike her phone, Lex’s tech department has total control over it. 

They probably have GPS tracking on it and, without connecting it to a computer or another device, she won’t be able to dig into the iPad to scrub it clean. She shuts it again and makes a mental note to toss it when she gets the chance. She shoves it back into her bag so that, even if someone were to access the microphone remotely, they would only be able to pick up muffled noises at best. 

The computer finishes updating and reboots itself. It’s a slow process and the internal fan is whirring with effort but it finally boots up again, welcoming her to a bland screen with a picture of a field on it. Lena reluctantly clicks on Microsoft Edge (like renaming it is going to save it from the terrible reputation of _internet explorer_ ) and downloads Chrome followed by a series of extensions that allow for more privatized browsing. It’s not ideal but it’ll do until she can pay for a VPN. 

The first thing she does is google “best job sites” and peruses the lists, experimentally clicking several jobs that don’t have anything to do with her field of expertise to see what they have to offer. It’s… not great. She has absolutely no experience in any sort of service industry job and, from the few offers she _does_ click on, most of them require several years worth of experience. Which is absurd because how is someone supposed to qualify for an entry level job if that job requires experience? 

Lena sits back in her chair and stares at the screen. She has never in her life felt more out of touch with the world and feels guilty for the role she’s played in society. She had been handed each and every job she had ever had--she hadn’t even really interviewed anywhere--and, even though she has always worked hard and done well, she wonders just how many people were passed up because of it. It’s the sort of existential crisis that she absolutely does _not_ have time for and yet she still finds herself staring at the screen blankly for the better part of ten minutes. 

She blinks herself back into reality and runs a hand through her hair, not caring that she’s making it dry weird. It’s not like she has anyone she needs to impress. The only one who is going to see her is Kara and Kara has seen her at her worst in the most literal way possible. Just the thought of how angry she had been, the way she had screamed at Kara in the Fortress of Solitude about killing Lex for her--it brings a guilty sort of shiver. And a fresh helping of anger because she has every _right_ to be angry about her best friend lying to her. Her emotions are and _were_ valid even if the way she reacted wasn’t okay. 

Lena huffs and gets up and paces around the apartment a little, just to give herself something to do. She’s antsy and frustrated and she ends up on youtube searching for a guide on using HTML because she’s well aware that a _lot_ of companies out there have shitty websites and watching someone explain the basics is soothing in a way that shifts her pacing from angry to just frustrated and then, eventually, into even steps. The video she chose is one of many and she lets them autoplay as she half-watches them, refamiliarizing herself with HTML since she hasn’t really done much with it since high school. Eventually she settles back onto the chair and starts paying attention. 

She’s well into the fourth video when she hears someone fumbling with the front door. Lena jumps and her finger hovers over the spacebar to pause the video before deciding to leave it playing. Whoever is out there isn’t Kara because they’re fumbling too much with the handle. She carefully slides off the chair and moves towards the drawer with the sharpest, pointiest knives Kara owns. The door clicks as Lena pulls out a large chef’s knife and the door opens and Lena is ready to jump whoever is after her because this is a _shitty_ hiding place and she should’ve found somewhere else to stay last night because this is absolutely the first place Lex is going to look for her. 

The door opens and Lena is ready to attack, the knife held high, and--

It’s Kelly. 

Kelly is standing there looking at her like she’s _bonkers_ and holding a paper bag. “Really?” Kelly asks, an eyebrow lifted in something that might be amusement. Which is honestly kind of offensive because Kelly didn’t even _flinch_ at the sight of Lena with a knife pointed at her. But, Lena supposes, Kelly _was_ in the military and she’s probably faced far worse than a Luthor with a knife. 

“Kara sent you?” Lena asks as she turns to put the knife back where she found it. 

“Mmm,” Kelly hums as she sets the bag on the counter. “Not specifically. We had a very quick conversation this morning about how she was after everything last night and if she thought there was any lingering effects of Kryptonite and then Kara blurted everything out after her third cinnamon roll of the morning when Nia casually mentioned your name.” 

Lena leans against the counter, her back to Kelly. Kelly is--fine. Kelly is fine and she’s nice and Alex really, really likes her. Which is good. Great, even. And Kelly is James’s sister which is weird but like. Okay. Or okay enough that it’s _fine_ . What really, genuinely unsettles Lena about Kelly is that Kelly’s job is to pick people apart and find all of the bad parts of them. She _knows_ that Kelly genuinely helps people, that her work makes the world a better place, that the work Kelly is doing is cutting edge and _crucial_ , but that doesn’t stop the way Lena feels about being in the same room as her. 

Usually they’re with other people. There’s Alex and Kara and Nia and sometimes even Brainy to act as a buffer. Or they’re in public. But there’s never really been a time other than when Alex had a work emergency and Kara had been in the bathroom where they’ve been genuinely _alone_ together. It just makes Lena feel vulnerable and flustered because Kelly just _knows_ too much. Too much about Lex, too much about Lena, too much about all of the _problems_ Lena has hoarded in the back of her mind. So having her here, when Lena feels incredibly vulnerable as is, makes it difficult to turn around. 

And, goddamnit, Kelly isn’t _speaking_ . She’s _waiting_ . Because Kelly knows that people like to fill silences when they’re nervous because she’s a _professional_ and Lena’s standing in her former-but-also-maybe-current best friend’s kitchen with a borrowed shirt and no socks and no makeup and Kelly is her ever-stunning self who is in touch with her feelings and well-adjusted and successful. 

“She must have been starving,” Lena says because it’s _neutral_ to talk about Kara. “She already ate a mountain of pancakes and at least six eggs before she left this morning.” She _has_ to turn around at this point because the knife has been put away and the drawer is _closed_ and she has no other excuse to be so awkward. So she does and she tries her absolute best to be casual and is incredibly grateful to find that Kelly is already busy setting the bag on the island and unpacking it. 

“Alex told me that Kara has eaten her literal weight in pizza more than once so I’m not even remotely surprised,” Kelly says. It’s civil. Nice. There’s no malice or ulterior motives and Lena hates that she feels so on edge around someone whose only goal in life is to help people deal with trauma. 

The boxes being set on the table are labelled in haphazard lettering and Lena is incredibly grateful that Kelly brought food because it gives her something to do _and_ a reason to turn around again. She takes her time grabbing plates and utensils before turning back to Kelly. 

“Sorry if this is forward,” Kelly says with an apologetic smile, “but Alex is working and William Dey wants help with something _stupid_ and I saw him trying to find me in my office so I figured that a long lunch would put off _that_ problem for the time being. I have Alex’s keys since I borrowed her bike this morning so I figured I’d stop in and say hi. I’ve missed having you around, Lena. Really. I’m sure you know but when Alex and Kara are around each other either they talk in some sort of half-secret sibling code thing, act childish, or argue over inane things.” 

“I would think the latter are the same thing,” Lena says and it’s surprisingly easy to offer Kelly a small smile in return. 

“And don’t even get me started on Nia because Nia _loves_ when they get riled up and I’ll be happy next game night because I won’t be the only adult there.” 

Kelly expects her at game night. Kelly doesn’t _offer_ , she just… states it. Like it’s a fact. Like there’s absolutely no question that Lena will be there and that everything will be nice. Normal. Except there won’t be any secrets because Lena already knows. 

“I’ve also noticed that J’onn can get tangled up in that as well,” Lena says carefully, testing the waters. She doesn’t want to overstep when things are going so well. What she doesn’t expect is for Kelly to snort at that comment. 

“J’onn will side with them on almost anything, I’ve noticed. Alex said he used to have two daughters and he’s basically adopted her and Kara at this point.” Kelly opens the boxes and folds the lids back and Lena is hit with the rich scent of Indian food almost immediately. It smells wonderful and Kelly pushes things out of the way so that there’s space for Lena as she sits at the island. “I wasn’t sure what you would want but I figure the rest can go in the fridge and Kara will inhale it later.” 

Lena hesitates before grabbing two water bottles out of the fridge and setting them next to the plates. She sits next to Kelly and is infinitely grateful that they’re both facing the same direction so she doesn’t have to actually _look_ at Kelly. It’s so much easier when she can’t spend every second of the conversation searching for any sign that the woman has decided she’s a lost cause.

“So what did he want?” Lena prompts, choosing the safest topic she can think of. “William Dey, I mean.” 

Kelly’s eye roll is incredibly impressive and exaggerated and it makes Lena smile fondly at the thought of her directing it at Dey. He’s fine, probably, as men go. Sort of… bland. Definitely not good enough for Kara, though. “He wants my _‘professional opinion,’”_ the words are said with mimed quotation marks that drip sarcasm, “on some piece he’s doing. He emailed me about it yesterday and I managed to deflect him but he clearly thinks any time I spend in my office means I’m _free_ so I made sure to leave before he could find me on his lunch hour.” 

“That’s such a _man_ trait,” Lena says, wrinkling her nose. “That’s why I’ve trained my assistants to _never_ let anyone pass. And why I don’t have a glass office. I don’t know how Cat Grant did it for so long--or James.” It’s a little awkward to mention him but she does it quickly just to prove to Kelly (or herself, really) that she has no problem with him. Which isn’t entirely true but Kelly doesn’t have to know that, especially since Lena is already speeding past it without pausing to give her any space to interject. “The only one who has ever been able to drop in on me unannounced has been Supergirl but I suppose I _did_ make sure the balcony was available to her.” 

Kelly is pulling samosas out of a container and offering them to Lena. “Well, I, for one, would take unexpected Supergirls over entitled journalists any time. Supposedly Dey has a ton of impressive awards on his resume or something. Andrea had lots of positive things to say about him in the beginning but his cute accent wore off pretty quickly. Although I can confidently say that he is a great baker but it’s not worth him stealing my lunch hour so he can talk about whatever social scandal he’s supposed to write about this week.” 

Kelly steers the conversation back to Dey even though she has ample opportunity to talk about something else, Lena notes. Which means that Kelly either understood that Lena doesn’t want to talk about anything personal or that Kelly really _is_ irritated with Dey. It’s probably a combination of both and it puts Lena a little more at ease and she plucks a samosa out of the container with a brief _thank you_. 

“Shouldn’t he have other sources or something?” Lena asks as she locates foil-wrapped naan that’s still pillowy soft and warm. “Just because you technically work for the same company doesn’t mean he should have unrestricted access to you.” 

“I’m tempted to position Alex outside my office this afternoon,” Kelly says as she takes the offered naan. “Although Alex is extremely easily won over by baked goods so I might just have to have Kara talk to him.” 

“Or you could just scare him off,” Lena suggests as she carefully scoops rice onto her plate. “Ask a few pointed questions, make vague guesses about his childhood, that kind of thing. Make him think that you see everything he doesn’t like about himself so he’ll actively avoid you to keep himself from confirming your assessment.” 

Kelly hums around a bite of chicken and slides her gaze over to Lena for a moment before refocusing on her food. “You’re probably right although it _does_ open up the possibility that he’ll see it as free therapy and then bother me for personal _and_ professional reasons.” 

The thought that someone might _invite_ a therapist into their mind is incredibly foreign to Lena because she didn’t even so much as speak to a _social worker_ her entire childhood. Her father had just taken her and the adoption was cleared quickly and then no one checked on her since. She had always been taught to avoid talking to people about her feelings, even her family and friends, and she’s honestly never considered that some people might _seek out_ therapy and jump at the chance of it. It leaves her blinking, baffled, as she pauses with her fork halfway to her mouth. 

Kelly, thankfully, doesn’t seem to notice. Or--chooses to act as though she doesn’t notice. Which is suspicious but… nice of her. No wonder Alex likes her so much. “On second thought, Alex is probably your best bet,” Lena manages after far too long has passed for it to sound natural but she tries anyways because she likes Kelly and she knows that Kelly is objective and smart and wouldn’t hesitate to call her out for taking advantage of Kara. “And the only thing I’ve seen move Alex is Kara’s pout or a _really_ cute baby. You could always remind her that you could just _buy_ her baked goods if he tries to bribe her.” 

“I like the way you think, Luthor,” Kelly says with a laugh as she gently bumps their shoulders. The way she says her name isn’t with disgust or awe, just… factual. Like it’s just any other name and it makes Lena feel like she’s dangerously close to tears because of such a simple gesture. 

There’s another lull--it’s not awkward, just… Lena feels so fragile already that she’s afraid just about anything will break her--where they both finish dishing out food and start eating before Kelly speaks again. “When did Kara get a cactus?” she asks, gesturing at the battered cactus that looks somehow worse than last night. 

“Oh, it’s mine,” Lena replies, a little self conscious. “Kara bought it for me a while ago because she thought my apartment looked, and I quote, ‘so monochromatic that we could be transported to some evil dimension where everything was black and white and we won’t even notice.’” 

That startles a laugh out of Kelly and Lena feels herself relaxed at the confirmation that Kelly seems to genuinely like her. “The cactus is also apparently a him and his name is Oswald. But he has somehow managed to survive my incredibly lackluster gardening skills and he’s one of the only things Lex didn’t take.” 

She’s said too much. She’s made herself too vulnerable. It’s over now, this weirdly easy truce, and Kelly is going to pounce on her weakness and everything wrong with her is going to be out in the open. But Kelly doesn’t push. She doesn’t press. She just… accepts it and moves on. 

“I’ve been trying to get Alex to move in with me since we spend most nights together anyways but she’s very attached to her apartment. Which is great because it’s in a great location and it’s nice but it’s _tiny_ and there’s not even enough space for her to have a real desk let alone space for everything I own. But if I can convince her to let you stay there for the time being so that we can stay at _my_ apartment that has an entire room devoted to a home office, I think I can convince her that my place is the better choice. Besides, I’m sure staying here with Kara would be awkward. You guys still have a lot to work out and some space right now is important. And it’s kind of self-serving which does make me feel kind of guilty but a studio apartment is _not_ a feasible living space for two people who bring their work home with them.” 

The offer is incredibly generous and Lena almost compulsively refuses before shutting her mouth. She doesn’t really have many options and Kelly is right about needing space away from Kara so they can both heal. “ _If_ Alex is okay with it,” Lena says slowly, “it’s probably my best option. But I’m not going to let her pay for it; I’ll figure something out to make money so I’m not taking advantage of her. I would like to consider myself reasonably competent so I probably qualify for a lot of things. It’s just… _finding_ a job that I’ll have to figure out.” 

“You should talk to Nia about that,” Kelly suggests. “She knows all that stuff and I’m sure she’d be happy to help out. She’s always admired you and she knows how much Kara has missed having you around. I’d suggest that you swing by CatCo but you’d probably be swarmed with people trying to get a statement from you and you don’t need to deal with that kind of thing right now.” 

“Thank you,” Lena says, continually surprised at how _good_ Kelly is. And Nia. And Alex. Just--all of them. She has to blink hard against the tears and has to swipe at the one that manages to escape but Kelly either doesn’t notice or is too polite to say anything about it. “I should probably reach out to HR at LexCorp to see what my contract said. Or if I even _had_ one,” she says bitterly. “Or if I have to formally quit or--something.” She huffs in frustration because she has so much to _do_ and no way to get it done. She doesn’t have a phone, she doesn’t have access to her work email, she has no money. Lex took everything and she knows that he’s going to do everything in his power to make sure that she has to come back to him. But she won’t. Not again. _Never_ again. 

“Worst case scenario, you sell an exclusive interview to CatCo and make a few thousand on a ten minute interview that you say can’t be televised, just a written article. That would buy you some time at least,” Kelly suggests. “Just make it about your personal achievements and some bullshit about how glad you are to be part of such a successful family and Lex can’t do anything without making himself look even worse.” 

Lena nods reluctantly; it’s not the best option but Kelly’s right about thinking short term. They finish eating as Kelly fills Lena in about game night last weekend and how they bought a cool game called Codenames and how catastrophically Kara and Alex did because they overthought everything and Nia and Kelly wiped the floor with them. By the end of the story, Lena feels a lot lighter than she has in a long time because Kelly offers to let Lena on their team because it’s way too fun to beat Team Danvers since the two of them are usually unstoppable. 

It’s over an hour later that Kelly finally leaves and Lena is left alone putting away the leftovers in containers so she can slide them into Kara’s fridge. She goes back to the laptop to find it dead--the battery probably needs replacing. So Lena plugs it in for a few minutes while she wipes down the countertops just so she has something to do. She picks up her mostly useless phone again and stares at the newest app she installed to find a job. It suggests that she uploads her resume but, in this universe, she has no idea how much of it has changed. Did she ever work for Jack? Can she say she has experience running a company? And what does she even want to _do_ with her life now that she’s broken away from her family. 

She does her best not to think about how it’s likely that she’ll have to go crawling back to Lex at some point. She tries to remind herself that Kara is fighting for her, that Kara cares about her. And that Kelly, for some reason, seems to care about her too. So it’ll be okay and Lena doesn’t have to be strong on her own anymore, she has _people_ now, and she can finally just… _be_. 

She boots up the laptop again and settles back on the couch to mindlessly watch introductory coding videos, letting herself get hypnotized by the basics that she’s half-forgotten over the years. 

…

Kara comes home at four twenty-seven, looking apologetic. “I am _so_ sorry that Kelly ambushed you. I was busy with an article and I didn’t know until Nia mentioned that you were hoping that she could help you with a job hunt and I don’t want to put any pressure on you or force you to deal with people when Lex literally stole your entire life out from under you and--” 

“It’s alright,” Lena says as she gets up with a smile. “It was nice to have company and Kelly filled me in on some stuff that happened while I was gone.” 

Kara seems to relax when she realizes that Lena isn’t upset and huffs out a sigh. “Well, I hope it wasn’t about game night.” 

“It was absolutely about game night. And how you and Alex lost by miles.” 

“That was _all_ on Alex. Kelly is just biased towards her. I think the best way to deal with the issue is to pass Alex off on Kelly and then you and I can prove that Alex is the worst at giving clues _and interpreting_ them.” 

_You and I_ . It’s a simple gesture but it feels so--so _heavy_. Poignant. And it only makes Lena feel worse about betraying her. Kara must see something in her face because, before Lena knows it, she’s swept up into Kara’s tight embrace, nose pressed against Kara’s shoulder. She inhales the scent of her laundry detergent and shampoo and her heart aches at the closeness, the sense of safety, affection, the way Kara seems to be able to make the tension disappear when she’s holding her. All she wants is for Kara to hold her for the rest of her life. 

“Kelly already said I can be on her team with Nia,” Lena says, doing her best to tease her because the raw emotion in this moment is overwhelming. 

“Okay, but best friend dibbs surpasses that,” Kara says, sounding indignant. “She can take her girlfriend instead. And we can even keep Nia because she’s basically my protégé and she’s also the best at trash talking and it’s really nice to take Alex down occasionally.” 

Lena pulls away after a moment, moving enough so she can see Kara’s face instead of just getting lost in her shoulder. But she miscalculates and Kara’s arms are still around her and their noses brush and everything feels so _intense_ for a moment because Lena finds that she wants nothing more than to kiss her and she almost does but--she can’t. It’s inappropriate. Lena is just exhausted from months of isolation. Kara will only see it as some sort of ploy to try to take advantage of her trust. So Lena pulls even further away and tucks her hair behind her ear. 

“Kelly left plenty of Indian food in the fridge for you,” she says before she can make a fool of herself by doing something stupid like _kissing_ her. 

Kara’s face lights up at that and she’s gone in a literal moment, her superspeed startling Lena. But then--then she’s grateful that Kara feels that she doesn’t have to hide that part of herself anymore and she smiles as Kara pulls out the containers. 

They eat a combination of the leftovers and some carrots and mushrooms that have seen better days that Lena finds at the bottom of the fridge. Kara chops an onion with _alarming_ speed without cutting through the cutting board somehow and grins at Lena as she heats the pan with her heat vision before tossing in the onions so they sizzle at the contact and--she’s showing off. So Lena rolls her eyes and nudges Kara out of the way so she can get to work on the mushrooms, chopping them at a much safer rate while Kara tends to the onions. 

It’s wonderful and perfect and Lena might have nothing else in the world but she has _Kara_ in her life again and she realizes that she could care less about her material things because this is worth more than anything else in the world. They cook, they eat, they end up on the couch together, they watch three episodes of Schitt’s Creek and Lena can’t stop laughing at how horribly accurate and over-the-top the rich mom is and--it’s good. Perfect. 

Lena sleeps on the couch again and Kara stays up for a few more hours since she needs less sleep than her and the sound of her clicking keyboard is soothing as Lena falls asleep. 

… 

“Okay so first thing,” Nia says as she sits on the floor next to the coffee table, sipping her enormous iced coffee with a generous helping of whipped cream and chocolate syrup topping it, “you are pretty much over qualified for everything. Which seems like some sort of oxymoron but it’s basically code for ‘we know you can make way more money somewhere else so we’re not going to hire you to be a temporary employee when we can find someone less ambitious or capable.’ And, no offence, but you would literally be the worst possible customer service person because I have _seen_ you murder men with words and you have to live by the whole _the customer is always right_ statement and you and I both know there’s no way you would do that.” 

“I could do that,” Lena says, a little indignant. Nia gives her a _look_ and Lena sighs. “So no customer service.” 

“Here, at the top of the app, you can say what things you want to exclude from your search,” Nia explains. “So we uncheck customer service and then go through the rest of your options because they’re not always clear.” 

Lena settles on the floor next to Nia so they can both see as she figures out the buttons. It isn’t that Lena is stupid she’s just… out of her depth. And she likes the idea that her _friends_ want to help her. It’s a far cry from what she’s had lately and she wants to treasure it. “Kara speed-read my contract,” she says. “And the only real stipulations are that I can’t work on the things I worked on while at LexCorp. Which excludes pretty much every biology or chemistry work but I do have other degrees.” 

“Of course you do,” Nia says. It should come off like an insult but it doesn’t because Nia is beaming at her. “So the best way I would recommend you going about it is to set it up so that your resume is on the app and you can send it out to employers that _you’re_ interested in. If you let them search for you you might be flooded by people who want to talk to Lena Luthor and not necessarily want to hire you. And Kara’s definitely your girl for resumes--she used to vet people for Cat Grant so she knows the process pretty well.” 

“Hopefully my brother won’t somehow sabotage all of this,” Lena says as she leans back on her hands. 

“Hey,” Nia says as she gently bumps shoulders with her. “Your brother might be a giant asshole who deserves to rot in the most disgusting level of hell but you’ve got us. And I’ve gotten _really_ good at punching people so if he comes after you,” she swings with the hand not holding the coffee and her fist glows blue as she mimics an uppercut. “So you’re not alone anymore. Plus, it’ll be my _pleasure_ to beat the snot out of him.” 

… 

“Okay so there’s a gun at the back of the drawer,” Alex explains as she shows Lena around her apartment. She pulls out the indicated drawer and pushes a hidden panel to reveal it. “It’s meant to stun people so don’t worry about pulling it. And J’onn put up alarms here years ago and they alert on my phone so someone will be here in a matter of minutes if something goes wrong.” 

“Alex, she’s going to be fine,” Kelly says as she lifts Alex’s bag onto her shoulder. 

“She should really be staying with Kara.” 

“You know that they _both_ need their space.” 

“This is the baton I have just in case I need it,” Alex continues after wrinkling her nose at Kelly for a moment but fails miserably to hide her smile. She reaches down and pulls a heavy cylinder off of the bottom of the bed frame. She flicks it open in one smooth motion before clicking it shut again. “Feel free to eat whatever’s in the fridge but do _not_ let Kara into my stash of imported chocolate because she _always_ says she can just fly over there and restock me any time but she never does.” 

“The wifi password is on the fridge,” Kelly says helpfully as Alex finally moves towards the door. “We’ll call and check in with you tomorrow.” 

“Here,” Alex says as she opens a drawer in her kitchen. “My spare Supergirl watch. Don’t be afraid to ask Kara for help. She’s really, really missed you, Lena, and she fought for you every time. She _wants_ to believe in you more than anything else in the world.” She leaves the watch on the counter and takes Kelly’s offered hand. “And don’t just get pity drunk because that’s something I would do and you’re better than that,” she says as Kelly tugs her along to the door. 

Lena laughs as Kelly makes a show of pushing Alex out the door. “You have my number,” she says once Alex is clear from the door, “we can make game night plans.” With a final wave, Kelly shuts the door behind her and Lena is left alone in Alex’s apartment, Oswald sitting in the middle of the coffee table in the new pot Kara bought for him.

… 

It takes two more days for Lena to get a job. Well--not a _job_ but a freelance offer. She makes a website for a small business that makes custom art of pets and other animals. It’s cute and the clients are nice and Lena has it done within a few hours. Nia came by yesterday to drop off a pay-as-you-go phone that, much to Nia’s delight, somehow has t9 word on it. 

“Okay but you’re telling me people _texted_ like this all the time?” 

“You’d be surprised at how well I used to do it under my desk at school.” 

Nia’s grin grows even wider at that. “Okay and I have to say, there’s something amazing about being able to _snap_ your phone shut. And I really hope these new flip phones companies are talking about doing it again make sure flips shut like this.” 

…

On day three there’s an angry email from her brother. She skims the first two lines and then deletes it. 

… 

She has two more freelance jobs lined up on day four and she starts planning a vague outline of an app she might work on in her spare time. She talks on the phone with Kara for the better part of an hour while Kara listens to her talk about what her app should be and how she’s going to write it. And then Kara talks about her day and how Nia had _six_ shots of espresso in her coffee this morning before discussing an intervention plan if it comes to that and Lena spends most of their conversation laughing because this is _everything_. 

… 

Kara comes over on Thursday night two weeks later with ingredients to make pizza. Lena had researched pizza dough on Wednesday morning and, by the end of the day and a shocking find of an old packet of yeast at the back of Alex’s pantry, she had an idea. So she invites Kara over and they spend Thursday night trying to roll out dough and stretch it into something that approaches circular and Kara tears through the dough more than once on the pizza she’s making. 

“It’s absolutely unfair,” she says with a pout. “You said that you’ve _never_ made pizza dough before!” 

Lena smiles as she carefully works the dough, stretching it patiently while Kara attacks her own with a rolling pin. “Sometimes cooking requires patience,” she points out. 

“I’m an excellent baker!” 

“I’ve started to think that your pies are only as flaky as they are because you cheat and use freeze breath to keep the butter cold,” she accuses casually. 

Kara freezes and looks up at her, grinning so brightly it’s almost blinding. “Yep!” she pops the “p” and turns her dough the other way to try to make it even. “But unfortunately superpowers won’t help me here.” Her dough is lopsided and torn in a few places but Kara resolutely reaches for the jar of sauce she brought over. “But as long as I layer it in cheese and pepperoni, I might be able to pretend it’s perfect.” 

Lena spends an extra minute on her own pizza before taking the leftover sauce from Kara. She puts a thin layer on her own and spreads it with a spoon carefully as she watches Kara dump an ungodly amount of cheese onto her pizza. “That’s going to melt right off the pizza and onto the bottom of the oven,” she warns. 

“We’ll put a cookie sheet below it to catch anything that falls off,” Kara decides. “Besides, it’s Alex’s oven and I’m _excellent_ at cleaning, thank you very much.” 

Lena shakes her head and sprinkles (a reasonable amount of) cheese on top of her pizza before adding mushrooms and olives to the top. Their pizzas slide into the oven (Kara’s more than twice the size of Lena’s) and they get to work cleaning up the mess starting with putting the ingredients away and ending with cleaning the counter. The apartment starts to smell like melting cheese as Kara devours the cheese she’s “rescued” from the countertop before Lena wipes it down. 

Kara isn’t wearing her glasses but her hair is still up in the bun she had worn all day. She looks like Kara and Supergirl all at once and it still feels _strange_ to see her this way. But… good. It’s also really, _really_ good. 

“What?” Kara asks when she notices Lena watching her. 

“I missed you,” she replies. 

Kara’s gaze softens and she takes one of Lena’s hands in both of her own. “You know that I really, really love you, right?” 

Something sharp and painful clenches in Lena’s chest and she simply nods because she wants _more_ than this. More than spending their nights talking on the phone like they’re teenagers. She wants to _be_ with Kara but she knows that it’s stupid to think that she’d ever want her after all of this. Whatever _might have been_ has long since vanished and Lena is doing her absolute best to pretend that it’s okay. 

“But like. In a way that’s… more than a friend.” 

What? 

Lena stares at her for a moment, not quite sure what Kara means. Kara drops Lena’s hand but Lena grabs her by the wrist before she can pull away. “In a romantic way?” Lena ventures, barely daring to speak above a whisper because this moment feels so delicate that she fears that one wrong step will shatter it. 

“I understand if this makes you uncomfortable and I want you to be _happy_ , Lena, and while I would prefer that you are happy with me I am always, one hundred percent going to be on your side and support you and--” 

Kara is surprisingly easy to pull into a kiss and, after a moment, she kisses Lena back. It’s soft and sweet and tentative because Lena has spent so long alone, so much time hating herself, that she doesn’t quite think this is real. Not until Kara slides a hand into her hair and holds her close and rests their foreheads together when Lena pulls back to breathe. 

“I wasn’t lying when I said I love you,” Kara says, catching Lena before she can doubt her. “You’re amazing and you make me _happy_ and when you came to my door--” 

“It’s okay, Kara,” Lena says gently because she’s overwhelmed and she doesn’t know how to be vulnerable but all she knows is that she _wants_ this with Kara. “You don’t have to explain yourself.” 

The timer on the pizzas goes off and Kara grins. “So can I take you out on a real date?” 

“And what’s wrong with this date?” Lena asks, raising a skeptical eyebrow. 

“We’re at my _sister’s_ place. It’s not really first date material.”

“Fair point.” And then, just because she can, she kisses Kara again. The timer beeps again, a little more insistent and Kara pulls back and presses a quick kiss to her forehead before dealing with the pizzas. 

As expected, half of Kara’s cheese oozed onto the cookie sheet, but Kara doesn’t hesitate to push the still bubbling cheese back on her pizza so that it won’t go to waste. If it was anyone else, it might be disgusting, but Kara manages to make it look _cute._ “So, more Schitt’s Creek? Oh! The final season of She-Ra aired! Did you watch it yet?” she asks as she slices the pizzas. 

“Without you? Never.” 

“Well I think you’re going to like it,” Kara says as she hands Lena’s plate to her. “Like, really like it.” 

They make it through the whole season and Lena cries at the end and she’s so, _so_ glad that she found Kara again. 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A (Kind of) Fresh Start (art)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26737627) by [Nora_335](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nora_335/pseuds/Nora_335)




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